Page 92 of For The Chances We Take

The guy asked for my baby again, and with reluctance, I nodded that Mia and Danny could hand him my little life. “Take care of him,” I pleaded.

“Don’t worry, Momma.” Another rescuer approached me, a woman this time. “We’ll get you out of here in no time. Your baby is getting great care right now. Soon, you’ll be together again.” Her voice was comforting. She turned to Danny. “Are you the father?”

“No. The baby’s our nephew.” He waved a finger between him and Mia. “I couldn’t get ahold of the father.”

I thought he’d texted him. “Someone needs to tell him.” I whimpered again, and Mia and Danny leaned over me from their places to calm me down.

“I contacted him.” Aaron stepped in. “When I got your message, I talked to both Ben and Zach.” I’d yet to get a good look at the man who brought the assistance we needed. His face appeared through the vacant back door window, and he touched my arm lightly. “Hi, Isabella. I’m Aaron Scott. I’m friends with Mia and Danny. I also know Benjamin. You’re safe now.” Even though it was the first time I met him, his severe demeanor didn’t put me off. On the contrary, it made it that much easier to trust him. He oozed competence and honesty.

“Wait. Someone should go to the hospital with the Little Bean,” Mia stated, with urgency. “He can’t be alone. He needs family around.”

I was about to freak out again when Danny squeezed my knees and carefully placed my legs down. “I’ll go with him. You girls gonna be fine?” Satisfied with my affirmative grunt, and Mia’s nod, he leaned over and kissed me on the forehead. “I’m so proud of you.” Looking away, he told Aaron, “Mia also needs medical support. She hit her head with the crash and threw up behind the car. I’m not sure what else happened to her, but as you can see, the collision happened on her side.”

“I’m fine, Danny.”

Aaron ignored her. “I’ll keep an eye on her and make sure she goes through a check-up. I’ll catch you both later to talk about what happened.”

Danny moved to the driver’s seat with care before getting out through the broken window. He nodded at Aaron and promised me not to leave my baby’s side. He stretched his hand inside the car to hold Mia’s and tipped his chin at her. Then he ran up to the road and my Little Bean.

More feet strode our way to work around us. Even though I was relieved my baby was receiving the care he needed, I felt a crushing longing for not having him by my side. I just wanted to get out of there, feel my boy in my arms, and feel Ben’s warmth envelop us.

“We need to get them out of here,” a new voice stated.

“Mia, you need to get out of the car.” Aaron rounded the hood to the driver’s window. “I’ll help you out.”

“I’m not leaving,” she asserted and leaned back, away from his stretched hand.

“You’ve already done enough. The guys need to saw the doors to get her out, come on.”

“I’m not leaving this car without her. If they need to saw it, they’ll do so with me inside.”

Aaron rubbed his hand over his mouth and complied. “Keep her steady.”

“We’ve done that already.” She pointed to my torso and head. “It wasn’t that professional, but that’s all we had.” I wanted to hug her embarrassment away. If it weren’t for the strap, I would.

“You did good,” Aaron praised. “But things will get rocky. Cover yourselves with the blankets. As soon as we can get the doors open, we’ll get you both out of here.”

Shouts overlapped, and people gathered around the car. There was a commotion outside as they settled to work on getting us out. The sounds from the machines were deafening, and a new wave of tears rolled down my face.

Mia, who was seated on the floor in the back seat, settled closer to me, both of us sharing the blanket Danny brought. She draped one arm over my chest and the other on top of my head, then she leaned her forehead to my temple and started talking to me. I couldn’t understand what she was saying; I just knew her voice was soothing.

My emotions were catching up to me. The close call with death was sinking in. Not having my baby to cherish and my man to protect us was proving to be too much. Being stuck under the blanket was a necessity, but a suffocating one. My out-of-place labor was turning out to be even more draining than I expected.

I wasn’t even that reluctant to let the darkness surround me. My last thought was of my baby touching my chin, and that was enough.

I wrapped up my job and was going back home. Even more than the other times I had to leave town, I was anxious to get back to my Forest. I hated being away when she was so close to her due date, especially since Michael was still out there. But something felt different.

I was driving for a while, but with each mile, my dread grew, and I couldn’t put my finger on why. It seemed to be more than being worried about his threats. My heart constricted, and rubbing my chest wasn’t enough to alleviate the pressure.

My only relief was that Izzie hadn’t been alone one single time since I was away. Mia was with her at the moment, and I trusted her with my woman and baby’s lives. The drawback was that Mia also had a bull’s-eye on her head.

Leaving town during those turmoiled times meant leaving exposed more than my woman and kid.

The easiest line of thought was to blame me for what was going on. In a rational capacity, I knew it wasn’t my fault. But it was hard acknowledging my so-called father was the one behind all that restlessness.

I was going back and forth between blaming myself and hating Michael when I heard several pings alerting me that I’d received numerous messages. With my heart already speeding up, I chose to open first the one sent from an unknown number.

They look so pretty today. And alone. What a shame.

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